What, if anything, are you doing to combat the comercialism of theseason? OT, but WTH

Victor Martinez wrote:

At my parents' house we no longer do the "gifts for everyone" thing, it
got too expensive. We now do a gift exchange, so that each adult only
has to get one present for another adult, instead of 12-15

That's a really good way to do it. Does everyone know who they're getting
the gift for, or do you each just buy a gift, and then pick them from a
pile on Xmas day? Or if they do, then how do you assign each person a
giftee, pull names from a hat kind of thing?

Joyce

wrote:
Victor Martinez wrote:

At my parents' house we no longer do the "gifts for everyone" thing,
it got too expensive. We now do a gift exchange, so that each adult
only has to get one present for another adult, instead of 12-15

That's a really good way to do it. Does everyone know who they're
getting the gift for, or do you each just buy a gift, and then pick
them from a pile on Xmas day? Or if they do, then how do you assign
each person a giftee, pull names from a hat kind of thing?

Joyce

DH has a rather large family, 3 brothers, and possibvly a total of 7 step
brothers/sisters (I can't remember, and I don't think I've met all of them
either). What they usually do is all the adults buy for adults (men buy men
themed gifts, women women themed), they are put in two piles, one for women,
one for men. Each present is numbered, and a corresponding number is
written on a slip of paper (each pile has their own set of #'s), and all
pieces of paper are folded and placed in a hat or bowl (whichever is handy).

Then all the women who brought a gift draws a number from the hat/bowl, and
finds the corresponding # among the presents in the women's pile. Same
thing happens with the men. In the odd chance that the # you drew is on the
gift you brought, you can opt to trade with someone (odds are that someone
else also drew the # on their own present anyway), or if what you brought is
really nice & you wouldn't mind keeping it, don't say anything.
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wrote:
That's a really good way to do it. Does everyone know who they're getting
the gift for, or do you each just buy a gift, and then pick them from a
pile on Xmas day? Or if they do, then how do you assign each person a

Someone gets the names of everyone who wants in the exchange and assigns
who gives to who. She then calls each person and tells them who their
secret giftee is.
We usually assign a monetary value for the gift, which makes it more
challenging.

--
Victor Martinez
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Victor Martinez wrote:

Someone gets the names of everyone who wants in the exchange and assigns
who gives to who. She then calls each person and tells them who their
secret giftee is.

Oh, it's a *secret* Santa kind of thing. I remember doing that years ago.
That's kind of fun.

We usually assign a monetary value for the gift, which makes it more
challenging.

But also nicer, because then everyone's gift is more or less the same
price, so nobody ends up worrying about whether their gift is too cheap.

Joyce

Sherry wrote in message
...
I find out what people collect and the buy it on ebay. I love finding
unique
things. The effort of finding something for that specific person matters
more
than price. Usually ebay cost less which is a good thing on my budget. I
love
giving gifts. Guess I'm shallow.
Suz

Oh NO, Suz, I didn't mean to imply that gift-giving is shallow. What you
do, to
me, defines the purpose of gift-giving. Showing someone you care with a
carefully-selected item that you already know they'll love. I just get
overwhelmed with the constant bombardment of buy, buy, buy this time of
year.
Buy more decorations. Buy the most awesome Christmas tree ever. Buy
SOMETHING
for EVERYONE, even if it's overpriced and relatively useless.
Truth is, I'm getting very anti-consumerism, even when it comes down to
everyday (overpackaged) products. Americans have too much crap already.
Witness
the fact that one of the most successfull businesses here is the STORAGE
business. And freecycle. And the number of garage sales on any given
weekend.
Sherry --- the newsgroup Scrooge.


I agree with Sherry--I dislike the "Buy this or your life is incomplete!"
bombardment of advertisements at this time of year. Hello, I've gotten
through life without a talking microwave just FINE, so far, thank you very
much. So I think I'll take a pass on that particular gadget. I think it's
one of the most valid reasons that people end up hating Christmas.
Actually, I love Christmas itself, just not the consumeristic frenzy that
accompanies it. I also agree with Sherry that we've already got TOO MUCH
STUFF. Even though I had a major cleaning out of my apartment earlier this
year, I still have too much stuff.

However Suz, I like your gift buying style. To give something unique that
the recipient willl love and use often is the best kind of Christmas
shopping there is! On Christmas morning, I STILL love opening packages. But
the things I want tend to be things I've been eyeing all fall, and have
dropped strategic hints into knowing ears. Or else it will be household or
personal items I need and will use every day. The sweater-coat my mom gave
me two Christmases ago is still doing yeoman duty, and I love it because
it's something I needed, I like the colors, it goes with other things in my
wardrobe, and most importantly of all, it keeps me warm. =o)

Melissa